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  • After 60 years of Rolling Stones concerts in Southern California, the fans tell all

    After 60 years of Rolling Stones concerts in Southern California, the fans tell all

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    Almost exactly 49 years ago, Jim McGarry got his first chance to see the Rolling Stones.

    For exactly one song.

    It was July 9, 1975, and he and a Stones-loving buddy had driven from San Bernardino to the Forum in Inglewood to see their rock ‘n’ roll heroes.

    Inside a flask shaped like a pair of binoculars, they smuggled whiskey in for the first of five nights at the arena. Upon discovering their tickets were in the nosebleed seats, they decided to sneak down to the front of the floor section.

    “We were only 19 or so and there’s Ringo Starr, there’s Liza Minnelli, there’s Bianca Jagger,” McGarry says. “There are these seats, right there by the stage. We sit down, we’re trying not to make any noise. We’re having a little bit more of the whiskey.

    “And then all of a sudden, the lights come on, it was a lotus flower stage, and Jagger pops his head out of the top of it,” he says. “We start screaming and jumping up and down and yelling.

    Then something really memorable happened.

    “The bouncers grabbed us, took us and threw us out the back door of the Forum,” McGarry says.

    The one song he got to hear – “Brown Sugar” – was the extent of his first Rolling Stones concert, but McGarry went back the next four nights of that 1975 residency and he’s kept going ever since.

     

    When McGarry gets to SoFi Stadium on Wednesday, July 10, and returns there on Saturday, July 13, it will mark the 99th and 100th Rolling Stones shows he’s attended, not counting various nights with solo Stones on their own outings.

    The history of the Rolling Stones in Southern California reaches back even further to June 5, 1964, when they made their United States debut at Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, and it has continued over the decades with legendary tours and concerts in iconic Southern California venues.

    There are plenty of stories of the band’s performances over the past 60 years in Southern California, so we asked fans to share their memories. And they did. What follows are edited only for length and clarity.

    The ’60s: The U.S. debut in San Bernardino

    The Rolling Stones played their first show in the United States at Swing Auditorium in the Inland Empire on June 5, 1964. They returned there several more times in the ’60s, while also playing the Hollywood Bowl, the Sports Arena, and the infamous Altamont festival.

    Hollywood Bowl 1966 was the first time I saw the Stones live. They were young and so was I. Tickets were $5  I did not see them for several years, but the last 25 years I’ve seen them every tour, more than 20 times. There was a magical trip for Stones fans to Stockholm in 2013, three shows in five days with seats in the pit or first five rows. The last venue was small, less than 2000, easy to make eye contact with the band.

    At the Forum, we had good seats on the floor, when they came out on the catwalk they were seats away. I excitedly told my best friend Nancy, ‘They’re looking at us!’ She told me not to get too enthusiastic – there was a 25-year-old flashing them in the row behind us.

    My love of the blues was reinforced with early Stones albums. Posters, ticket stubs and album covers hold a special place in my home. My Goldendoodle Keef was named after Keith Richards, my favorite Stone. I look forward to seeing them with my best friend of over 66 years, Nancy Qualtieri Lee, on July 10.

    The Stones and I both have wrinkles, but when they play “Satisfaction” I’m 15 again. I will continue to spend my grandchildren’s inheritance on Stones tickets as long as there are the Rolling Stones.

    – Kay Bourgeois Harris, Huntington Beach

    I was backstage at the Swing Auditorium with the Stones at their 1964 bus tour when I was 18. An unknown at the time Sonny Bono was there with me as well as the editor of the British music publication Melody Maker. Somewhere, I still have the playlist that Charlie Watts had written for the gig. There were PR stickers posted around Pacific High School in San Bernardino before the concert announcing, “The Rolling Stones are coming – dirtier than the Beatles.’

    – Noel Farmer, Brooklyn, New York

    It was our sophomore year of high school and none of us had even heard of the Rolling Stones except for Diane who was crazy for them. She convinced a group of us to see them at Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino. We had front-row seats and I don’t think it was even a sellout crowd. Fast-forward one year to 1965 and it was a different story. The Stones had become hugely popular and this time the stage was mobbed by crazed but controlled fans. Another friend had won a radio call-in contest for a backstage visit, so two of us gave her our albums to be autographed. I never imagined that 59 years later it would be a cherished possession. Wish I had saved the tickets stubs!

    – Nancy Brucks, Anaheim Hills

    I was at the 1964 Southern California Rolling Stones concert. In fact, my friends and I had front-row center seats. Looking at their tour schedule, it looks like I attended their first U.S. concert at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino. Last night I looked up that venue and was thrilled to watch the original concert on YouTube. Jagger was so young and so cute! I was hoping maybe I would be in the video, but wasn’t. The most memorable experience from that night was when Mick used his mic to do a lot of very sexual things!  My friends said I was nuts to think that and had a dirty mind! Obviously, that wasn’t the case.

    I think I began my musical adventures when I was 16 or 17 when I saw the Beach Boys perform at Loyola University Spring Fling  in 1963. Very exciting when Mike Love took me on stage and I lip-synced in the chorus of ‘Little Surfer Girl.’ I went to Westchester High School and was in the same graduating class with the two of the Turtles, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. They had their hit ‘Happy Together’ when they were, I think, 17 or 18. I regret that I never got to see the Beatles … but, unbelievably, one of my Manhattan Beach roommates, Olivia, became the second wife of George Harrison and the mother of their son Dhani.

    –  Fran Greenbaum, Mission Viejo

    Everyone in L.A. had heard that the Stones would be playing a free concert in the Bay Area but no one knew where until a couple of days before the show. The day before the show I got on a midnight PSA flight from LAX to SFO. My flight was packed and approximately 75% of the passengers were high on acid. Not me. I didn’t trust crowds.

    When we got to SFO, I ran right over to Hertz. All they had left were gigantic Cadillacs. Five hippies chipped in if I would drive as they were in no shape to get anywhere by themselves. We drove to Livermore and the crush of cars happened all night. At 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., we drove as far as the crowds would allow and parked by a farm. Just follow the crowds. The next day I called Hertz and told them the car was stolen. Never heard about it again.

    Got to Altamont just as the sun was coming up. Sat down about 100 feet in front of stage right. What I didn’t notice was the Hells Angels buses parked about 100 feet behind us. These clowns were completely [messed up] on speed and LSD and were in a foul mood. Luckily, their path was about 20-30 feet to the left of me.

    Of course, no one played well. The stage was too low and the PA was crap. When the Stones came on, everything turned to crap. Fighting all around the stage front and Mick was pissed. Then I saw an Angel with a big knife just plunging it into someone down front. That’s when Mick started yelling, “Hey people!” repeatedly. There was a highway several hundred yards behind the right side of the stage. I ran up there, stuck my thumb out, and got picked up by a beautiful girl in a new sports car, who was going all the way to to Oakland Airport.

    I got on a midnight flight to LAX and was home in Santa Monica and in bed by 2 a.m. When I was interviewed several years ago, the moviemaker and myself decided I had to be the first person home and in bed before the other 500,000. I had friends who were stuck there for days. I heard thousands of cars were abandoned. The movie [“Gimme Shelter”] captured it perfectly.

    – Bob Barnett, Huntington Beach

    In the summer of 1965, I was employed at Ward and Harrington Lumber Co. on Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Now the location is Sterling BMW dealership. The Watts Riots erupted and lasted most of the month of August. I can recall our lumber truck drivers making deliveries in and around Los Angeles, still carrying pistols with them even through November.

    My brother gave me Rolling Stones tickets for the Los Angeles Sports Arena for my birthday. I really didn’t want to chance it. No regrets. The good news is my wife knowing this story surprised me with an early birthday present with two up-close tickets to the Stones at the Honda Center on May 15, 2013. Ooh-hoo-hoo!!!

    – Charlie Wolfe, Costa Mesa

    On Sept. 23, 1966, my new boyfriend took me for a ride to Los Angeles from Orange County. Our Sunday drive took us near the Sports Arena in the afternoon. We saw that the Rolling Stones were performing and decided to buy tickets to the show. Our tickets were $20 each for the first row on the balcony behind the band. It’s the concert we will always remember being the most fabulous event ever and a fabulous beginning to our relationship. This year, we are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with four children and eight grandchildren.  Thank you, Rolling Stones, for the wonderful experience.

    – Karen and Phil Luchesi, Newport Beach

    My first and only Stones concert was July 26, 1966, in San Francisco’s Cow Palace. I was 14 and I had a particular girl in mind but either her parents would not sign off and/or I didn’t have the nerve to ask. My date was mom, who drove. It was a full roster and a three-hour show. I only remember the Stones and the Standells. I’m quite surprised to read the Jefferson Airplane also played. We were miles away; this was also my first experience in such a large venue, and, of course, sonically it was pretty miserable. I see now it was Jagger’s 22nd birthday, a fact I don’t remember registering at the time, but I do recall he put on the kind of show you could enjoy from a hundred yards back.

    – Randall Crane, Irvine

    Ahh, yes! The Rolling Stones are emblazoned in my memory from 1967. The UCI graduate school of administration. On the first floor, right underneath our study room was the Ratskeller, a rocking beer and sandwich place with a jukebox that was so loud it came through the floor! Our class was small, three of us, and we all sang along to ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and the other Stones songs that I still remember the lyrics at 80! UCI had a lot of visiting groups in the ’60s, but never the Rolling Stones. Too bad. I could have sung every tune they played!

    – Bob Bunyan, Mission Viejo

    In the ’70s:  Forum shows and Anaheim shoes

    The Rolling Stones played the Forum in Inglewood often in the ’70s, with several 1975 shows available as live albums. Then there was the Anaheim show where Mick Jagger found out what happens when you invite fans to throw their shoes on stage.

    June 1972, the Forum. Out of the hundreds of rock concerts I have ever seen (including the Beatles) this is NUMERO UNO! This was the Stones at the height of their creative powers and they were still hungry to prove it. Highlights include a huge dragon curtain in front of stage, the opening chords to ‘Brown Sugar,’ and Jagger coming out of the dragon’s mouth, to strut and prance… Mick Taylor, Keith and Bill Wyman standing up straight, deadpan.

    This show was after they had played an afternoon show – back in those days, they never played an encore. That night – they did!Program, cool jet poster – yeah still got ’em. I have gotten rid of many programs over the years, Not this one!

    In 1975, three out of five shows at the Forum, lotus flower stage opens up with Jagger at top of petal opening up to front row, Jaggar,10 feet in front of me – it was something to behold!

    For a long time I took a break because I felt I had seen the Stones at their best, especially indoors, but over time broke down and saw them at Dodger Stadium, the San Diego baseball stadium, a couple of Rose Bowl shows, a couple of Staples shows. And now, July 10 at SoFi, excited again. Neither of us are getting any younger!

    – Kevin Bossenmeyer, Irvine

    June 13, 1972.  I was a junior in high school and a buddy came up to me at school and asked if I wanted to go see the Rolling Stones in San Diego. I said, ‘Let’s go,’ and about midday we headed from Fullerton down to San Diego. Ticket was $6.50. At the San Diego Sports Arena, the show was unreserved seating, and the floor was open, no seats. We got a spot on the floor about 10 feet directly in front of the stage where Mick Jagger would be singing. It was a long wait, but well worth it.

    When the show started, everyone was standing and packed together to rock out. I remember people getting stoned, taking a hit from a joint, sticking your arm up in the air with the joint, and the next concertgoer nearby would grab it, take a hit and hold up and pass to another person. I remember Mick Jagger singing a hit, rocking out. He had a big stainless steel bowl filled with rose petals, and as he spun around, flung all the rose petals into the crowd.

    – Rick Morgan, San Clemente

    I am going to SoFi for both shows. My first two Stones shows were at Anaheim Stadium right after high school graduation. and yes, I remember “throw all your shoes on stage.” Peter Tosh and the Outlaws were the warm-up bands. Peter had a song called “Legalize It” and passed out big joints. I tried it and it was full of seeds. Yuck.

    Those ’78 shows started a lifelong love affair. I have been at the Prince shows. The 50th anniversary tour with Mick Taylor was the best because of Mick sitting in on a few of his classics he helped form. Learning how to get in the pit is the biggest deal these days. I have been in the pit four times, and it is unbelievable, the best experience on the planet.

    – Jim Power, Laguna Hills

    I was at the 1978 Anaheim Stadium concert. I remember a shoe ended up on the stage. Mick Jagger saying, ‘I want all your [darn] shoes!’ Well, everyone threw their shoes on stage and they walked off. The crowd was not happy.

    Before music was played, people were using large beach blankets to throw girls in the air. My sister Susan is 4’11”. As we walked by I heard, ‘Hey she’s small, grab her!’ She was grabbed and flung in the air, screaming, ‘Let me down.’ She was pissed off to say the least.

    – Bob Waters, Laguna Niguel

    I was there. Mick, after dodging intermittent shoes being thrown at him, threw one of his back and then announced, ‘OK, I want all your shoes!’ It was raining shoes on the stage for a couple minutes. Then the ‘Some Girls’ show continued smoothly.

    – Bob Tucker, Garden Grove

    In the ’80s: Prince abdicates, GNR roars

    Prince was not yet a superstar when he opened for the Stones at the Coliseum in 1981 and got booed off the stage. Near the end of the decade, Guns N’ Roses and Living Colour fared much better as openers at the same venue for the Stones.

    I went to see the Stones at the Coliseum in 1981. My roommate and I were both friends with a guy (I do not even remember his name) that told me he had an extra ticket to see the Stones. He then said whoever answered the phone when he called would get to go with him and buy the extra ticket.  Well, you guessed it, I answered the phone and went to the concert with him.

    I remember no knowing who Prince was at the time other than he was the opening act. I did not like any of his songs and the crowd booed him and threw eggs at him. Little did I know he would become so successful later on. I must say I never became a fan of Prince and laugh when I think about that event.

    – Linda Burstein, Laguna Niguel

    Saw the Stones at the Coliseum in 1981. This guy called Prince came out. I remember one of his songs seemed particularly misogynistic. After a few songs he was booed off the stage, and his manager came out and lectured the audience like we were a bunch of second graders.

    I don’t think Prince came back out.

    It happened.

    Les Poltrack, Chanhassen, Minnesota

    In 1986, the Stones used our sound equipment (Glass Family Electric Band) for a week for their L.A. gig rehearsals. After delivering the equipment, I was in their rehearsal for five hours – lucky me – as they went through all their songs up until that time.  I was in and out of that house they rented, which I believe was Stephen Stills’ house in Laurel Canyon, for that week. Both Mick and Keith were very nice and made me feel comfortable.

    – David Capilouto

    1989, LA Coliseum, Living Colour, Guns ‘N’ Roses and the Stones. Autumn, a 16-year-old neighbor girl, won tickets from a radio station. She asked me, a 39-year-old dad, to escort her. Her mom is a huge Stones fan, so she was not happy that her daughter didn’t ask her. Score!

    She came to see Guns ‘N’ Roses and I had never heard of them. I was there for the Stones. Neither of us knew Living Colour. My highlight was when the Stones played ‘Honky Tonk Women.’ They had two three-story blow-up dolls that the roadies pulled on with a rope to the beat of music. One of the dolls was a blonde with her legs crossed smoking a cigarette. It was awesome.

    She recently thanked me again for taking her to her first concert. She now has many concerts under her belt which includes, unfortunately, the Las Vegas Route 91 country concert on Oct. 1, 2017. She was shot three times – hand, lung, and jawbone and tongue. She spent a month in the hospital. There is no question that her husband’s quick action getting her to a hospital saved her life. She no longer teaches grade school, but her attitude and love for life has returned. She is awesome.

    – Mike McCarthy, Huntington Beach

    The Rolling Stones concert I saw in October 1989 at the Coliseum was probably the best concert I ever saw. But the real story is the journey getting to the concert. The morning of ticket sales, standing in the parking lot at Tower Records, my future husband Joe’s number was somewhere in the first few in line. Finally, the doors opened and the first few of us went in. However, there was a problem. The Tower Records computer was crashed! Our hopes were dashed.

    If memory serves, those of us left in line were finally told to go home, leave our wristbands on, and come back at a specified time, and in the meantime, they would try to reserve us some tickets. When we came back to Tower Records, Joe showed his wristband, and we purchased our reserved tickets. Apparently, the manager called someone with clout, who was able to save a block of tickets for those of us still in line in Torrance. We were elated! We were going to get to see The Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses, and Living Colour!  And not only that, we scored front-row seats!!!

    – Diane Dantas, Cypress

    In the ’90s:  Baseball stadiums and the Rose Bowl

    The ’90s saw the Stones play the largest stages in Southern California, including a pair of shows at both Dodger Stadium and the Rose Bowl.

    My son and I attended their concert, early ’90s at Rose Bowl. We were interviewed by an Aussie news outlet that was beaming via satellite from the parking lot. Remember them asking what my favorite Stones song was and I replied “(I Cant Get No) Satisfaction.” In succeeding years, he and I attended concerts at Staples, also at Petco Park in San Diego, Dodger Stadium, and not too long ago, SoFi Stadium shortly after opening. I am 83 years old, my son is 42, and for the coming concert at SoFi, we will bring our 9-year-old grandson for a perfect trifecta. Three generations.

    – Tony Calderone, Huntington Beach

    In the ’00s: The Stones go big

    The first decade of the new millennium saw the Rolling Stones play huge stadiums such Angel Stadium and Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, the Forum, Staples Center, and Honda Center.

    I’ve been a Rolling Stones fan since 1964 and I’ve seen lots of their concerts. The best was at Anaheim Stadium on Nov. 2, 2002. The Angels had just won the World Series in that stadium. While rocking out, the Stones played the video of Darin Erstad catching the last out of the World Series. The crowd went wild. The memory of that night will not fade away. Somehow some old English rockers – the greatest ever – knew the baseball crowd and we got what we wanted.

    – Andy Guilford, Trabuco Canyon

    I have had the privilege to see them over 40 times, I believe, in Japan, London, Paris, and soon to add Canada. I had the honor of working the local crew with IATSE 504 and doing Keith Richards’ spotlight at Anaheim Stadium in 2003. I have the work pass and I have the setlist that was listed as Edison Field. I also have a few guitar picks and a pair of Charlie’s drum sticks. On this tour, I am seeing 11 shows. I just got back from Denver and my next show is in Canada. The shows have been great!

    – Larry Morgia, Irvine

    I saw the Stones at either Angel Stadium or Dodger Stadium 20 years ago. It was a great show, of course, with Mick doing his thing. Some of my favorites they played: ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,’ ‘Dead Flowers,’ ‘Sister Morphine.’ You can tell my favorite album. ‘Sticky Fingers.’ I follow Mick on Facebook. Love these guys; they are the soundtrack for our lives.

    – Dave Lindquist, Irvine

    In the ’10s: Large and small

    For a band as big as the Rolling Stones, an arena is about as small as it gets. Imagine how lucky you’d feel to have scored a ticket to the tiny Echoplex in L.A. to see them one night in 2013.

    My favorite experience was in 2013, front row in the pit at Staples Center. From this prime spot, I witnessed something new: the band’s on-stage relationships. I saw them communicate with just a wink or a raised eyebrow, showcasing their decades-long synergy. That night, we were treated to a surprise appearance by Mick Taylor, who revived his legendary solos on tracks like ‘Sway’ and ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.’ It was pure sonic magic.

    A memorable moment was Ronnie Wood snapping his fingers and sending a plectrum over my shoulder, hitting actor Aaron Paul (Jesse from ‘Breaking Bad’) on the forehead. This show holds a special place in my ‘Heart of Stone’ as it was the last time I saw Charlie Watts behind the drum kit.

    For my 14th concert, I’ve designed a special baseball jersey featuring my ticket stubs superimposed on the iconic tongue logo, with the dates of every Stones concert I’ve attended listed on the back. As Jagger once sang, ‘This could be the last time …’. Well, I sure hope not!

    Incidentally, I’m a two-time player on the CBS reality show ‘Survivor’ because I was attracted to the idea of ‘cheating death,’ but is there a better example of that than Keith Richards? I think not!

    – David Wright, Sherman Oaks

    My wife and I have seen the Stones quite a few times. The first time I saw them was at the Forum in either ’73 or ’74.  My wife Sandy saw them at the Hollywood Bowl in 1966, She was 12 at the time.

    In 2015, at Petco Park, I was invited to have dinner with the Stones. When we arrived at the entrance of the area for dinner, I had to show my ID; I had forgotten my wallet in the car. Sandy went to get my wallet but by the time she came back, it was too late. There was no one at the door and it was locked. We saw Charlie Watts and asked him if there was any way to get in, he said he didn’t know. He was very polite and told us to call Keith’s manager, which we did; her voicemail was full. So much for that.

    – Ernie Lujan, Rancho Santa Margarita

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    Peter Larsen

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  • We’ve heard of helicopter parents. But what about helicopter adult children?

    We’ve heard of helicopter parents. But what about helicopter adult children?

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    Q. My daughter visits once or twice a year from her home, which is hundreds of miles away from where I live. She told me I must stop driving, should have a college student live with me and hire someone to clean my house, delivering these admonishments very firmly. I subsequently passed my driving test, cleaned my house successfully and have neighbors and friends who are there when I need help. This conversation has created a rift. Please address a column about family members making assumptions about older persons whom they seldom see. C.R.

    Perceptions matter. Let’s first try to understand your daughter’s perspective.

    Think about how older adults are portrayed in our society and our perception of aging. In a recent column, I mentioned Becca Levy, Yale Professor of Epidemiology who asked people to think of five words to describe older persons. In the U.S., the most common answer was “memory loss.” In China, it was “wisdom.” The US response was one of a deficit, rather than one of strength. 

    Your daughter’s response may be influenced by our youth-oriented culture with images of aging showing primarily declines and disabilities. Furthermore, her concern may be one of safety knowing that age is a risk factor for falls, car accidents and health vulnerabilities. As well, I take your word that you’re in fine fettle, but it’s not uncommon for individuals to downplay health challenges.

    Here’s the rub. Everyone ages differently. Age is a poor predictor of individual competencies and functioning. For example, we know older adults have an increased risk of falling, but each adult differs in strength, reaction time, vision and living circumstances. Although trends count, they do not necessarily apply to each individual. 

    Adult children are known to overestimate older parents’ problems as noted in the Journal of Adult Development. Adult children evaluated their parents and reported more disabilities and life problems than their parents. This overestimation occurred more often when the adult children communicated by phone and less when they communicated in person. Clearly, it’s the first-hand knowledge that counts. 

    Your daughter may be considered a helicopter adult child. The term “helicopter” has been used by parents of teenage children as the parents hover over them, counter to their responsibility to raise a child to independence. Both teenagers and older adults share the value of independence. 

    As a point of interest, some parents have not outgrown this protective role. In one study of 800 employers, one out of five recent college graduates brought a parent with them for a job interview. That doesn’t sound like fostering independence.

    I would like to share a personal story of a well-intended adult daughter who hovered for good reason.

    Here is what happened: I left my daughter’s home and let her know I was driving directly to my home. After about 15 minutes, my daughter texted me, called my office phone, home phone and cell phone with no answer. Receiving no response, she became worried and called my friends asking, “Have you seen my mother?” 

    An all-points bulletin went out asking if anyone had heard from Helen. Needless to say, this caused a stir. Out of fear and desperation, my daughter drove to my home and found my car in the driveway. She was sure I was horizontal on the kitchen floor. As she looked across the street, she saw her mother attending a neighbor’s party held in his garage with Yours Truly laughing and munching on hors d’oeuvres.

    My daughter was relieved but with a request: Always call me as soon as you get home. I share this story because I was responsible for this misunderstanding – saying one thing and doing another without thinking about the effect on my daughter. So, we parents can have a role to play.

    Now let’s get back to your daughter. So much depends on relationships and perception. To influence your daughter’s perception, she likely needs more information, assuming she is open to it. Perhaps a starting point is to have a conversation. Here are a few suggestions for that chat. 

    • “I appreciate your concern. What worries you most about me?” 
    • “I would like to share with you how I am able to take care of myself.” 
    • “Let’s talk about the best way to keep in touch.” 
    • “Should we set a certain time to connect?”
    • “And how often should we chat?”
    • “Are you comfortable using technology such as Skype, Zoom, or the telephone?” 

    Thank you, C.R., for your good question. And kudos on passing your driving test. Best wishes in continuing to live the life you want to lead. And know that small acts of kindness can change the world. 

    Helen Dennis is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging and the new retirement with academic, corporate and nonprofit experience. Contact Helen with your questions and comments at Helendenn@gmail.com. Visit Helen at HelenMdennis.com and follow her on facebook.com/SuccessfulAgingCommunity

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    Helen Dennis

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  • There’s been a flower show blooming in my yard the past few months

    There’s been a flower show blooming in my yard the past few months

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    For the last two months, I have been admiring the flower show provided by my yellow pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima flava). 

    The Latin name of this plant commemorates Andrea Caesalpino, a 16th-century Italian physician and botanist. Before the age of synthetically produced pharmaceuticals, medications came directly from plants. Thus, physicians were often botanists too since the sources for the medications they prescribed grew in the garden. Pulcherrima — the species name of this plant — means “beautiful” and is reserved for plants of universally recognized beauty since, as everyone knows, there is a plethora of plants that are beautiful. 

    With yellow pride of Barbados, the large plumes of golden flowers are perched on feathery, fern-like shoots of bipinnate leaves. An aside: the poinsettia is also unusually beautiful (albeit due to brilliant red, leaf-life bracts that are not flowers), and its Latin name of Euphorbia pulcherrima reminds us of its unique appeal.

    Flava is the subspecies name of yellow pride of Barbados since “flava” means yellow in Latin. The reason for the subspecies name is to distinguish it from the more familiar and widely planted cousin of this plant, red bird of paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), whose brilliant red stamens emerging from red or orange flowers make it a garden standout that is second to none. 

    In our climate, both of these plants, native to Mexico and the Caribbean, will grow into 10-foot tall shrubs that make an excellent screen or security barrier due their thorns. To keep them compact, prune drastically in the spring, even down to the ground, and they will quickly grow back up again. Yellow bird of paradise (Caesalpinia/Poinciana gilliesii) grows into a vase-shaped shrub of somewhat lesser stature.

    Before leaving this group of plants, we must pause for a moment to regale their arboreal relative, the yellow poinciana tree (Peltophorum pterocarpum). I first saw this tree growing in Israel, whose climate mimics our own, but have yet to see it here. It is sometimes referred to as the yellow jacaranda due to having a similar form, similar foliage, and a similarly magnificent floral display. Note: while Caesalpinias and Poincianas are in the legume family (Fabaceae) and have the characteristic fern-like, feathery foliage shared by many leguminous ornamentals, the feathery-leafed jacaranda is in a different botanical family (Bignoniaciae), sharing kinship with that large assortment of trumpet vines that you see blooming this time of year in purple, red, pink, orange, and yellow. 

    In any case, the yellow jacaranda is more manageable, with a mature height of 40 feet, whereas the common lavender-blue jacaranda may grow up to twice that size. The yellow jacaranda is also more cold-tolerant than the lavender-blue and so it is a mystery as to why it is not seen in the nursery trade. 

    There is another tree referred to as yellow jacaranda, presently flowering in an explosion of orange-yellow. This is the tipu tree (Tipuana tipu), a South American legume that is a shade tree in the truest sense, and also tops out at 40 feet. Let’s say you have a backyard that bakes in the sun and are considering planting a tree that will create the kind of shade that will induce you to spend more time outdoors when the summer heat comes. This just might be the tree for you. And, oh yes, lest I forget, leguminous shrubs and trees, once established, are universally drought tolerant with a need for irrigation that is minimal, requiring a deep soaking every once in a while to no water at all. 

    Because of tree trimming maintenance costs, there is a disinclination these days when it comes to planting classic shade trees that rise to 40 feet or more. Yet the attraction of a shady garden retreat under a large tree is powerful. It gives you the opportunity to place a hammock underneath. As far as the kids are concerned, a large tree offers unparalleled delights in the form of an apparatus for climbing, branches from which a swing can be hung, and – most importantly – the foundation for a tree house. 

    A Plant-O-Rama plant sale, a tradition that goes back more than 50 years, is returning to Sherman Library and Gardens. Plants will be offered by the California Native Plant Society, Los Angeles International Fern Society, Newport Harbor Orchid Society, Orange County Begonia Society, Saddleback Valley Bromeliad Society, and Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts. All your questions about caring for the featured plants will be answered by experts on-site. The sale will take place on Saturday and Sunday, July 20 & 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Admission to the gardens and plant sale is $5 but free to those holding a Sherman Gardens membership. The gardens are located at 2647 E. Coast Hwy. in Corona del Mar. For more information, visit thesherman.org or call 949.673.2261.

    California native of the week: Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla) get their name from their flowers that resemble pagodas. They also bear a resemblance to the flowers of snapdragons and Angelonia to which they are related. Flowers may be lavender and white to magenta and white or pure white. Plants grow in clumps that are two feet tall and one foot wide. Grow them in light shade or under your oak tree for a flower show from spring to early summer, which can be extended by removing faded flowers before they go to seed. You can procure a packet of 1,340 Chinese houses seeds from the Theodore Payne Foundation (theodorepayne.org) for six dollars. However, you will want to wait until fall to plant them. 

    If there are any special shrubs or trees most people might not know about but whose presence you enjoy in your garden, please recount your experience to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions, comments, gardening successes or predicaments are always welcome.

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    Joshua Siskin

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  • Is Caltrans liable for the freeway pothole that damaged your car?

    Is Caltrans liable for the freeway pothole that damaged your car?

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    Q. I was traveling north in the slow lane of the 605 Freeway and had just passed Del Amo Boulevard in the Cerritos-Lakewood area when I heard a loud pop. A rear tire had blown out. The tow truck driver arrived quickly and changed my tire. The pickup truck parked in front of me also had a blown rear tire and was being serviced by another AAA tow truck driver. I filed a claim with Caltrans for the damage to my car: $1,652.94. I received a letter from Caltrans denying my claim, stating, “The California Department of Transportation cannot be held liable for damages without prior notice of a dangerous condition and sufficient time to have taken measure(s) to protect against the dangerous condition, per California Government Code.” I requested an appeal and a review by a supervisor. Will Caltrans grant me an appeal, and reimburse me for my damages?

    – Joanne Rumpler, San Dimas

    A. Decades ago, Young Honk walked into his family home, fuming. He had run over a pothole that damaged a rim – the young whippersnapper wanted justice and, more importantly, some cash.

    But Pops Honk, an attorney, told him the law was how Caltrans put it in your letter, Joanne.

    Honk isn’t suggesting you give up – no, ma’am.

    You can file a California Public Records Act request, asking for documents saying when that pothole was discovered and how the agency responded to it, to determine if Caltrans indeed was told about the problem well before you came across it.

    So you don’t have to bounce around the internet, Honk will send you a link so you can file one, if you like, Joanne. If anyone else wants that link, he is more than happy to share it.

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    Jim Radcliffe

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  • Shohei Ohtani homers but Angels snap losing streak against Dodgers

    Shohei Ohtani homers but Angels snap losing streak against Dodgers

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    LOS ANGELES — Awk-ward.

    Bad enough the Angels had to run into their old friend when they’re not looking their best – no one wants to be seen in public with a 30-45 record. But they had to watch their old friend remind them he has moved on.

    Facing his former team for the first time, Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run home run and reached base four times. But Taylor Ward came through with an RBI single in the 10th inning to give Ohtani’s former team a 3-2 victory over his current team on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

    The win snapped the Angels’ 10-game losing streak to the Dodgers, the longest win streak by either team in Freeway Series history.

    “I think we’ve been playing some good ball against some very good teams. They’ve been coming out on the other end. Tonight we won it,” Angels manager Ron Washington said.

    “It’s not always the best team that wins. It’s the team that plays the best. Tonight we played the best.”

    The Angels still took a significant loss. Starter Patrick Sandoval came out of the game in the third inning with left forearm tightness. He will undergo an MRI on Saturday and be further evaluated.

    Sandoval had just delivered ball four to Ohtani when he signaled to the Angels’ dugout that something was wrong, calling vigorously for a trainer.

    “He really had good stuff against me,” said Ohtani who walked twice against his former teammate. “Unfortunately he had some apparent injury. I hope he’s going to feel well and I hope he’s going to recover from whatever he’s feeling.”

    Two innings later, Ohtani broke a scoreless tie when he launched a 1-and-1 fastball from lefty reliever Matt Moore dip into the night. Ohtani’s 22nd home run of the season traveled 455 feet to straightaway center field.

    That didn’t even make it his longest home run of the week – Ohtani crushed a 471-footer in Colorado. That was just one of five home runs in his past six games. Ohtani hit two last Sunday against the Kansas City Royals and has remained hot since moving into the leadoff spot to replace Mookie Betts. In five games there, Ohtani is 10 for 20 with three home runs, nine RBIs, a double, five walks and seven runs scored.

    “It’s certainly the hottest I think we’ve seen him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, apparently downgrading Ohtani’s 11-for-21 National League Player of the Week run at the start of May to second place. “Taking the walks in his first two at-bats and then getting a pitch he can handle to use the big part of the field like we’ve talked about and then again to line it up the middle, he’s playing really good baseball. Tonight we just couldn’t support him.”

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    Bill Plunkett

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  • Southern California has 8 of the least-affordable US cities for homebuyers

    Southern California has 8 of the least-affordable US cities for homebuyers

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    Source: RealtyHop

    “How expensive?” tracks measurements of California’s totally unaffordable housing market.

    The pain: Southern California has eight of the nation’s 20 least-affordable cities for homebuyers.

    The source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed RealtyHop’s affordability index for 100 US cities, which estimates how much of a household’s median income would be gobbled up by a mortgage payment for a median-priced home listed in May. The math assumes a 7.13% mortgage rate, a 20% downpayment, and property taxes.

    The pinch

    Los Angeles was No. 1 for its lack of affordability, with a theoretical buyer spending 99% of their income – yes, basically all of it – on the estimated $6,512 house payment. That buys you a $1.1 million house and eats up almost all of the $78,671 in citywide pay.

    No. 3 was Irvine with an 85% slice of pay for a $8,982 payment on a $1.48 million house compared with a $126,861 income.

    Pressure points

    The rest of the Southern California cities in the study ranking among the top 20 least-affordable …

    No. 5 Long Beach: 70% – $4,771 payment on $799,900 house vs. $81,509 income.

    No. 7 Anaheim: 69% – $5,234 payment on $879,999 house vs. $91,356 income.

    No. 8 San Diego: 67% – $5,715 payment on $959,000 house vs. $101,797 income.

    No. 12 Santa Ana: 63% – $4,581 payment on $774,494 house vs. $86,891 income.

    No. 14 Chula Vista: 56% – $4,883 payment on $799,000 house vs. $105,230 income.

    No. 19 Riverside: 53% – $3,768 payment on $631,000 house vs. $86,104 income.

    Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

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    Jonathan Lansner

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  • No charges coming to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs after hotel video, LA County DA says

    No charges coming to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs after hotel video, LA County DA says

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    Los Angeles County prosecutors say no charges are forthcoming against rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs after the release of disturbing 2016 surveillance video taken in a Century City hotel, which appears to show the rapper and producer physically assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

    “We are aware of the video that has been circulating online allegedly depicting Sean Combs assaulting a young woman in Los Angeles,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement posted on social media late Friday. “We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch. If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.

    “As of today, law enforcement has not presented a case related to the attack depicted in the video against Mr. Combs, but we encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to report it to law enforcement or reach out to our office for support from our Bureau of Victims Services,” the statement continued.

    The video, obtained by CNN, was taken at the then-InterContinental Hotel in Century City, the network reported.

    The video shows Ventura exiting a hotel room and walking down a hallway toward a bank of elevators. Combs, wearing only a white towel wrapped around his waist and socks, is then seen following her down the hallway then forcefully grabbing her by the head or neck and throwing her to the ground. As she lies on the ground, Combs kicks her. After picking up a suitcase nearby, he kicks her again.

    In a still image from CNN video, Sean “Diddy” Combs is allegedly seen physically assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. (Image from CNN video)

    Combs is then seen trying to drag Ventura back down the hallway toward the hotel room, but he lets go of her after pulling her into the hallway from the elevator area. He then continues back toward his room.

    Combs re-appears in the video and appears to shove Ventura again, before sitting in a chair and grabbing something from a nearby table and throwing it at her. He then returns to his room.

    Ventura had claimed in a lawsuit in November that Diddy physically assaulted her in 2016, saying the rapper was drunk and punched her in the face. She alleged that when she tried to leave, Diddy followed her and eventually threw glass vases that were on display in the hallway at her. According to the suit, Ventura eventually got into an elevator and took a cab back to her apartment.

    The lawsuit also made more serious allegations of sexual assault and other acts of physical abuse inflicted by Diddy. The lawsuit was settled one day after it was filed, but no details were released.

    The rapper had issued a statement vehemently denying the suit’s allegations, suggesting Ventura was looking for a “payday.”

    Responding to the release of the video, Ventura’s attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, issued a statement to CNN saying, “The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”

    Also see: Home of rapper, music mogul Diddy raided by federal authorities in Los Angeles

    There has been no immediate response from Diddy to the video.

    In late March, federal agents raided Diddy’s homes in Miami and in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles.

    According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the raids were “part of an ongoing investigation,” but no details were released.

    The nature of the probe was unclear, but several reports indicated it was part of a federal sex trafficking investigation. Diddy has been targeted in multiple lawsuits in recent months — including Ventura’s — accusing him of sex abuse. In addition to Ventura, two other women filed lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.

    Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr. filed a lawsuit earlier this year accusing Diddy of groping him while the pair worked together on Diddy’s album “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” The lawsuit also included allegations that Diddy and his son engaged in a “sex-trafficking venture.”

    Also see: ‘Culture of silence’: Lawyer calls Diddy’s NDA terrifying, purposefully intimidating

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    City News Service

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  • Will Smith’s 2-run double in 10th lifts Dodgers over Giants

    Will Smith’s 2-run double in 10th lifts Dodgers over Giants

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Whatever the separate trajectories of the two franchises, the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants always make for a good fight.

    They traded blows again Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Oracle Park. Will Smith’s two-run double in the 10th inning decided things, 6-4, in the Dodgers’ favor.

    “When I started with the Dodgers, it was AT&T (Park) and it felt like the first two or three years I was here, a lot of weird stuff tends to happen in this stadium, especially late in games,” Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernandez said of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry.

    The Giants have a losing record since they wrenched a division title from the Dodgers in 2021 – a 107-win outlier that seems more aberrational with time – and attendance has suffered at their Bay-side ballpark. The ticket exchange company Vivid Seats even forecast a Dodgers majority in the stands at Oracle Park for this series – though the “Beat L.A.” chants seemed as robust as ever and the home fans roused themselves to boo Shohei Ohtani for his perceived flirtation with the Giants as a free agent (though not nearly with the vigor the jilted fans in Toronto managed).

    “I think there’s something to the rivalry,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think the fans here really get into it. And we seem to be pretty well represented when we come up here. But you know, regardless of records, it seems like we always have tight ballgames.”

    Indeed. Since the start of the 2015 season, the Dodgers and Giants have played 50 one-run games. More than half (80) of their 158 meetings (including the 2021 National League Division Series) have been decided by one or two runs.

    “It’s always intense games. Fans are into it,” Smith said. “We’re trying to beat them, they’re trying to beat us. It comes down to who executes and tonight we were able to get them.”

    Mookie Betts landed the first punch Monday, leading off the game with a home run. It was the 50th leadoff home run of Betts’ career, third all-time behind Alfonso Soriano (54) and Craig Biggio (53).

    More to the point, it was Betts’ first home run of any kind since April 12. After starting the season with six home runs in his first 16 games, Betts’ power went out for 26 games. He entered Monday’s game in a 7-for-35 funk overall but had hits in his first two at-bats, giving him back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time since April 27.

    In the second inning, though, Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto hung a first-pitch curveball to Luis Matos. The fat breaking ball met the same fate as many of its ancestors – Matos sent it deep over the left-field wall for a three-run home run.

    “Yeah, just kind of a ‘get-me-over’ hanger,” Smith said. “Other than that, he pitched really well.”

    Yamamoto course-corrected after that, retiring the next 12 batters. That gave the Dodgers time to climb back into the game on Ohtani’s RBI infield single in the fifth and Gavin Lux’s game-tying RBI double in the sixth.

    The Giants chased Yamamoto from the game in the sixth, regaining the lead when Betts couldn’t field Heliot Ramos’ ground ball to his right. The ball went into left field, allowing the go-ahead run to score from second. It was the second ball to Betts’ backhand on which he was unable to make a play.

    “With Mookie we’re still in the process of trying to get repetitions on plays that he’s never had,” Roberts said. “Diving for a ball in the outfield is different than diving for a ball on the dirt. That’s a ball that you just got to get repetitions because we don’t practice that, he doesn’t practice that.

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    Bill Plunkett

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  • Here’s a great new tool to help protect butterflies in your area

    Here’s a great new tool to help protect butterflies in your area

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    Spring wings

    A look at our local Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species and share some tips on how to protect them.

    New conservation tool

    One of the ways you could help butterflies and moths in your local area is by creating a space with plants they are attracted to. Chris Cosma, a recent Ph.D. graduate from UC Riverside and now at the Conservation Biology Institute, created an online tool that lets you enter your ZIP code (or address) and the Butterfly Net shows the best native plant species to use in your area. The site works for all of California and ranks the value as host and nectar plants for local butterflies and moths. Some plants can attract dozens of insect species.

    Check it out: ctcosma.shinyapps.io/the_butterfly_net

    You can click on the image of the site to get to The Butterfly Net as well.

    When it comes to creating plantscapes that help, another UC Riverside entomologist, Erin Wilson Rankin said, “In garden settings, a diversity of sages (we like to use a mix of black sage, hummingbird sage and Sonoma sage) and mallows (chaparral mallow, desert mallow, and Indian mallow). California buckwheat is a pollinator crowd pleaser, as is encelia. For trees/shrubs, lemonadeberry and sugarbush are great nectar plants.”

    Bees get well-deserved credit as pollinators in California for all sorts of agribusiness, but they are only part of the story. Butterflies, moths, bats and birds deserve credit too.

    Busy at night

    In 2023, a report by the University of Sussex discovered that moths are faster pollinators at night than bees and butterflies during the day. Bees and butterflies do the vast majority of pollination but moths have a much quicker pace.

    A few butterfly facts

    There are 165,000 known species of Lepidoptera (17,500 are butterflies) found on every continent except Antarctica.

    Their eyes are made of 6,000 lenses and can see ultraviolet light.

    Metamorphosis, where a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, is completed in 10 to 15 days, depending on the species.

    Sources: Erin Wilson Rankin entomologist at UC Riverside, UC Davis Entomology Department, Peter Bryant of UC Irvine, Microscopic image from Scope Tronix, North American Butterfly Association, butterflyconservation.org, “Western Butterflies” Peterson Field guides, iNaturalist.org, San Diego Zoo

    Photos: SCNG and David Rankin CC BY-NC

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    Kurt Snibbe

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  • Dodgers stay hot, back Walker Buehler’s return with 4 home runs

    Dodgers stay hot, back Walker Buehler’s return with 4 home runs

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    LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers welcomed Walker Buehler back with the kind of support you hope to get from your co-workers when you’ve been out of the office for awhile.

    The Dodgers hit four home runs in the first three innings and Buehler made his first start since June 2022 in a 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.

    The win was the Dodgers’ fifth in a row and 12th in their past 14 games, a dominant stretch that has seen them outscore their opponents 99-28.

    Over those 14 games, the Dodgers have hit 25 home runs. Even with all those longballs, the Dodgers have managed to give them some new wrinkles. Max Muncy had the first three-homer game of his career on Saturday. That was followed by Shohei Ohtani’s first two-homer game as a Dodger on Sunday.

    Monday’s first was back-to-back homers by Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the first inning, the first back-to-back homers by the Dodgers this season.

    Named the National League Player of the Week for last week, Ohtani added an eighth day to the week. His 441-foot missile launch in the first inning Monday (following a Mookie Betts walk) was his fourth in a span of nine at-bats stretching to Saturday night and extended a consecutive hit streak to six.

    Mired in a 3-for-28 tailspin, James Outman showed signs of life with his first home run since April 9, another two-run shot in the second inning. And in the third, Teoscar Hernandez sent a solo shot into the left field pavilion, the fourth home run from the first 15 batters Marlins starter Roddery Munoz faced.

    The main attraction, though, was Buehler’s first major-league start since June 10, 2022.

    In the 23 months since then, Buehler underwent, rehabilitated and recovered from surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his pitching elbow as well as Tommy John surgery (his second) with the new bracing technique.

    Buehler topped out at 97.6 mph with a first-inning fastball, allaying any concerns about how much of his velocity had returned during his six adrenaline-deficient minor-league rehab starts.

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    Bill Plunkett

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  • Here are bulbs that are excellent for a shade garden

    Here are bulbs that are excellent for a shade garden

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    While the vast majority of bulbs are meant for sunny locations, some are excellent candidates for the shade garden. Walking in my neighborhood the other day, I spotted the flowers of two bulb species that are durable and guaranteed to spread in shady locations.

    The first shade lover I spotted was Natal or bush lily (Clivia miniata). Its silky, pastel orange to vivid reddish orange trumpet blooms are breathtaking in late winter and early spring. They form in clusters with as many as ten flowers per cluster. Leaves are broad straps of green that provide ocular pleasure on their own after flowers have faded. Yellow clivias are also occasionally seen. Spherical red fruits form where flowers have been and these contain seeds that germinate readily enough. The problem is that Clivia grows so slowly from seed that you will have to wait five years until flowers develop. For this reason, it is wiser to plant grown specimens. You can also acquire Clivia bulbs which are apt to give you flowers within the first year of being planted. One source for Clivia bulbs is Terra Ceia Farms (terraceiafarms.com), where you can acquire three bulbs for around twenty dollars.

    The only enemy of Clivia is too much love. Plants should not be watered in winter and sprinklers kept on during that season can bring about their death. They also crave fast-draining soil. As indoor plants, they grow best in an orchid mix and, in the manner of orchids, thrive when their roots are exposed. This is not surprising since Clivia, like orchids, is epiphytic — that is, it is found growing in trees where one branch forks off from another.

    The other flowering bulb for shade I noticed on my walk was summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum), a misnomer since it blooms in every season except summer. Flowers are nodding, scalloped bells or lampshades with a green spot on the tip of each petal. This is one of the toughest bulb plants as it can grow in dry or wet soil and spreads quickly in the garden bed. 

    And now we come to Lenten rose or Hellebore (Helleborus orientalis) which, unfortunately, I did not encounter on my walk but wish I had. Hellebore is perfectly content growing in a shade garden. It does not grow from a bulb but has a clumping growth habit and will spread slowly but surely throughout a garden area that is protected from hot sun.

    The Lenten rose is highly decorative – if in a somewhat subtle way – yet durable plant that deserves more of our horticultural attention. Also known as hellebore (hell-uh-BORE), it belies its name since it is a heavenly addition to the garden and far from boring. It blooms for many months in winter and spring with flowers that are typically pale greenish white, but may also appear flushed with pink, burgundy or purple. 

    Many varieties have blueish-green foliage with saw-toothed margins. Hellebores need excellent drainage so If your soil is heavy, amend it with plenty of compost before planting. Gypsum, probably the least expensive amendment for softening hard soil, will similarly improve drainage when it is dug into the ground. Although they need good drainage, hellebores are not drought-tolerant and require some moisture in their root zone throughout the year.

    Two notes of caution regarding hellebores: First, all plant parts are poisonous; second, hellebores should not be moved during the first few years after planting. Established plants may be carefully divided and moved as long as you are willing to wait several years for the divided clumps to re-establish and re-bloom. Hellebore is one of the most undeservedly neglected plants and I do not recall ever seeing it in a nursery, although it is readily ordered from Hellebore growers with a presence on the Internet. The mail-order nursery with the greatest selection of Hellebores, in addition to many, many exotic plant species that neither you nor I have ever encountered, is Sunshine Farm and Gardens (sunfarm.com).

    Hellebores belong to the buttercup family (Ranunculus), a group noted for the diversity of its foliage, which is always a pleasure to behold. Meadow rue (Thalictrum polycarpum) is a California native buttercup for the shade garden that has soft, intricately-laced leaves atop succulent stems that rise up from underground. Anemone or windflower (Anemone coronaria), another type of buttercup, grows from a tuber and is flowering now in red, white and blue. The fall-blooming Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida), which sends up four-foot stems topped with white or pink blooms, is another neglected, but eminently suitable perennial for the shade garden. Finally, there are Ranunuculus corms themselves, which send up lacy foliage and tight turban-shaped flowers in white, yellow, orange, red, and pink.

    Other plants that are compatible with hellebores include ferns of every description, low-growing palms and mahonias. Mahonia, or Oregon grape, is a sturdy grower that is also noted for saw-toothed foliage. Native to California, mahonia has edible blue fruit that is attractive to birds and other wildlife. Keep in mind that these plants will not grow in deep shade but do well grown under deciduous trees. 

    Japanese maples are often seen growing in the proximity of hellebores due to their similar light requirements. A Japanese maple variety called Coral Bark (Acer palmatum var. Sango-kaku) is special. In addition to its salmon- to red-colored bark which, after its leaves have fallen, glimmers brightly in winter and spring before leafing out, Coral Bark can take more sun than the average Japanese maple. It is a fine specimen tree for light shade, partial sun or container gardens.

    California native of the week: Creeping sage (Salvia Gracias) is a ground cover that grows six inches to two feet tall and is in full bloom from now until summer. Flowers are blue, foliage is gray and aromatic when crushed. In one year, creeping sage may cover up to eight feet of ground in every direction and single plants may spread to more than 30 feet with the passage of time. Yet where conditions for growth are limited, it may take much longer to reach that size. Still, it is a tough plant that will live for four decades under virtually any conditions. It will grow in rocky or sandy soil where other sages struggle and is seemingly impervious to heat and drought.

    If you have bulb plants – or any other plants, for that matter – that you are proud of growing in the shade, please send your success story to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments as well as gardening tips or garden problems are always welcome.

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    Joshua Siskin

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  • Many Russian immigrants in SoCal buy propaganda that Nazis thrive in Ukraine

    Many Russian immigrants in SoCal buy propaganda that Nazis thrive in Ukraine

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    Shortly after Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gary Rapoport, a real estate broker in Burbank, showed pictures of a destroyed apartment in his native city of Odesa to his relatives in Los Angeles, convinced that the grueling images of families’ shattered homes would make them acknowledge the disastrous impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

    Yet they seemed unimpressed.

    His relatives in Los Angeles examined the images of the wreckage in Odesa and told him the pictures were fake. They said Russians would never commit atrocities against Ukrainians.

    Rapoport was shocked and realized his relatives perceived the war as an attack by Ukrainians on Russian-language speakers, a large minority group living in Ukraine. He couldn’t help but wonder if they were influenced by reports and narratives from pro-Kremlin news outlets easily found online in the U.S.

    In an interview with this news organization, Rapoport said his relatives believe news on the Kremlin-controlled TV station, Channel One, more than they believe him. “Russian propaganda is very powerful. It has convinced people that Ukrainians are a nation of nationalists and Nazis,” he said.

    Robert English, director of USC’s School of International Relations, said the Kremlin “has taken the lessons of World War II and twisted and adapted them to create the menace, the looming threat of revived Nazism that is directed against Russians. And Jews don’t even seem to figure in this story. It’s a strange twisting of history to serve the political needs of the present.”

    He added: “Nazis were targeting Jews and cleaning out the ghettos and rounding them up and focusing overwhelmingly on Jews, (but) that’s not how Soviets and Russians were taught in the era of (Joseph) Stalin and (Leonid) Brezhnev. It was sanitized so Jews as primary victims were removed and it became Soviets. And even if Jews were killed and that was admitted, they were Jewish but they were Soviets.”

    Before Vladimir Putin became Russia’s president, English said, “There was a very mild appreciation of how particularly vicious Nazis were against Jews (during World War II) — because Russians have always been taught that we all suffered equally. We were all ‘Soviet.’”

    Rapoport was baffled and frustrated with his relatives for blaming the U.S. and Europe for prolonging the war in Ukraine. He said they repeated the lines spread by the Kremlin’s pundits on Channel One and other state-owned TV channels.

    “Our people have been brainwashed for a long time,” Rapoport said in Russian. “Our people don’t understand that Channel One is sponsored by the Kremlin. When the war started, they already hated Ukrainians. By that time, propaganda had done its work.”

    Like Rapoport, Eugene Maysky, chair of the Russian-Speaking Advisory Board of the City of West Hollywood, is perplexed by the impact the Kremlin’s views have had on his fellow Russians in the U.S.

    Russian immigrants, Maysky said, are susceptible to anti-West and anti-NATO rhetoric because they grew up on Soviet and Russian movies blasting the West and glorifying Russian power. Even after moving to the U.S., for immigrants, Russian TV — which broadcasts Soviet movies along with pro-Kremlin programs — remains the main source of entertainment and information.

    Eugene Maysky is the chair of the Russian-speaking Advisory Board to the City of West Hollywood. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    “Putin’s PR team somehow came up with an idea that it would be easy to convince Russians that there are Nazis in Ukraine,” Maysky said in Russian. “They used stories from World War II about Nazis attacking Russians. We all grew up with movies about the Soviet Union being attacked by Nazis and then defeating them during World War II. That narrative is easy to sell to Russians.”

    Rapoport remembers that before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russians acted like “big brothers” over Ukrainians. “There was a foundation for this attitude of Putin that says: ‘Ukraine is not really a nation. It’s just a dialect of the Russian language. Kyiv is Russia.’ There was definitely a lot of that, even in previous decades.”

    But since the 2014 Maidan Revolution that ousted Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, English at USC explained, there has been “this narrative of ‘bad Ukrainians’ threatening Russia.” An era of widespread hatred grew in Russia toward Ukrainians, “something that was manufactured very recently,” English said.

    That experience prompted Rapoport, who arrived in the U.S. in 1991, to question how the Kremlin influenced his fellow Russian expats living 6,000 miles away from Moscow in Southern California. According to the U.S. Census, most of the 600,000 expats live in Los Angeles and Orange counties, but Russian speakers have also settled in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

    “The scariest thing is that it’s impossible to convince (relatives) of anything other than their beliefs,” Rapoport said. “The propaganda is strong. I didn’t find one person who would move to the bright side.”

    On U.S. cable, the power of Russian TV

    The majority of Russian news TV cable channels seen in the U.S. are tightly controlled by the far-off Kremlin, according to English. Recent research by Russian independent polling organization Levada found that 62% of Russians get their news from TV.

    Many expats watch popular Kremlin propagandists such as Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent radio and television anchor for the state-owned TV and radio stations known as “Putin’s voice.” Solovyov proclaimed in 2022 that “Ukraine is a Nazi state.”

    Tiblisi and Yerevan Bakery is a Russian-Armenian Deli on the 7800 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood on Friday, March 18, 2022. West Hollywood has a significant Russian-speaking population. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
    Tiblisi and Yerevan Bakery is a Russian-Armenian Deli on the 7800 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood on Friday, March 18, 2022. West Hollywood has a significant Russian-speaking population. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

    Weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, Solovyov said, “Ukrainians are killing their civilians to frame Russia, while Russia targets only military objects.”

    UC Riverside professor and Ukraine-Russia expert Paul D’Anieri says “Propaganda is part of any war and the goal is to weaken the support for Ukraine by convincing people that Ukrainians are not the victim here, but the perpetrator.”

    The idea that Ukraine has been inundated by Nazis, he explained, goes back to World War II.

    “There were a small number of Ukrainians who collaborated with Nazis,” D’Anieri explained. “There were Russians, Belarusians, and Americans who collaborated with Nazis as well. But millions of Ukrainians died fighting against the Nazis. There’s this phenomenon that if you say stuff over and over again, people tend to believe that there must be some truth in it.”

    Another reason some Russians believe government and media propaganda, D’Anieri said, is because, “If I’m Russian and I don’t believe that stuff about Ukrainian ‘Nazis,’ then what do I have to believe about my own society? I have to believe that my own society is engaging in this genocide against people that we swear are our brothers. That is not a very easy thing to swallow.”

    West Hollywood has a population of about 35,000 and nearly 20% of its residents are Russian speakers. Sofiya Fikhman, 84, a Russian Jew in West Hollywood who moved to Southern California in the early 1990s, turns on her Russian TV show right after she comes home from the Russian library where she volunteers three times a week.

    During the Nazi occupation of Belarus during World War II, her family was forced into a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Odesa. She says she watches the latest news before bed, usually Channel One, despite pleas from her grandchildren to stop watching the Russian news.

    “When you live alone, have no one to talk to, you end up watching TV a lot,” she said in Russian, adding that she felt sad for residents of her hometown, Odesa, whose homes and schools have been destroyed by Russian forces.

    Friends take sides over ‘Little Russia’

    Maysky, the chair of the Russian-speaking board in West Hollywood, says the Kremlin “is using stories from World War II because they are still remembered by older Russians. Putin’s team probably thought: ‘There are people who still remember fighting the Nazis during World War II and sharing those stories with their children, so it would be easy to convince them that Nazis still exist in Ukraine. That’s why Russia has to fight against Ukraine.“

    The issue of propaganda divides even younger Russians. Maysky, 48, recently blocked several friends on Facebook who support Putin, and he cut off a longtime friend who believed Kremlin’s justification of the war in Ukraine.

    “I can’t believe that a grownup man my age who traveled the world can seriously believe everything that the Russian government says,” Maysky said. “You can’t be friends (if they) believe the idiotic Russian propaganda, even if you were friends with someone half of your life. That’s the tragedy of modern times because many of my friends are affected by the virus of Russian propaganda.”‘

    He warned, “we can’t ignore that monstrous propaganda machine.”

    Beriozka is a Russian grocery business on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood on Friday, March 18, 2022. Flyers show support for Ukraine and condemnation of Putin. West Hollywood has a significant population of Russian language speakers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
    Beriozka is a Russian grocery business on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood on Friday, March 18, 2022. Flyers show support for Ukraine and condemnation of Putin. West Hollywood has a significant population of Russian language speakers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

    According to English of USC, in 2014 Russians began hearing from the Kremlin that Nazis were targeting Russians in Ukraine. That year Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula and annexed that part of Ukraine.

    “That’s when the mythology grew huge,” he said, citing the key propaganda they used:  “Russians were at risk and that the Russian language was being distinguished, and the Russian culture was being suppressed. Russians, Russians, Russians were the victims of these Nazis, Nazis, Nazis.”

    TV can be powerful, English added. Especially for older people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, television remains “the main source of news and it’s so propagandistic now.”

    He added that “Jews were written out. They were downplayed. They were all but ignored as special victims in the Soviet Union. The Soviets wrote a version in history in which Soviets were the victims, not Jews.”

    Although young Russians, “were not brainwashed and indoctrinated in the 1960s and 1970s like the older generation,” English said, “they still got the full force of the last 20 years of Putin’s indoctrination.”

    “Maybe they don’t believe the propaganda fully, but once you feel isolated and hated by the world, you slip back into the official verse,” he said of younger Russians. “They feel abandoned by the West. They feel blamed by everyone else. It’s paradoxical, but it’s powerful.”

    TV host and commentator Vladimir Solovyov’s views are supported by Russians who believe the war on Ukraine was necessary to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine who were threatened by pro-Ukraine nationalists, according to English.

    Russian talk shows, English said, are “sleekly produced and have good production quality. They can be seductive and they appeal to people who watch Soviet-era TV. There’s something comforting in being told ‘this is what’s right’ and you want to be with the majority.”

    Vintage Soviet-era cars line the entry to the Russian Arts and Culture Festival grounds in West Hollywood. West Hollywood has a population of about 35,000 and about 20% of its residents are Russian speakers. (Courtesy of the City of West Hollywood)
    Vintage Soviet-era cars line the entry to the Russian Arts and Culture Festival grounds in West Hollywood. West Hollywood has a population of about 35,000 and about 20% of its residents are Russian speakers. (Courtesy of the City of West Hollywood)

    In his 2015 book Winter is Coming, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov wrote, “The false narrative that Russia is surrounded by enemies who are intent on holding it back fills Putin’s need for fuel for his increasingly fascist propaganda. … Putin’s regime is as obsessed with Soviet suffering and victory in World War II as the Soviet Union ever was.”

    Kasparov, the World Chess Champion from 1985 to 2000 and today a political activist, added, “Along with the victimhood claim (in this case, legitimate), the WWII fixation fits the Kremlin’s desire to call all of its enemies fascists, despite all evidence to the contrary. Their bizarre logic goes, ‘We defeated fascists in WWII, and so everyone who opposes us is fascist.’”

    Last year when Rapoport’s relatives in West Hollywood saw TV reports of destroyed buildings on the street where their family had lived in Odesa, his relatives told Rapoport that Ukrainians had ravaged their former neighborhood — and that Russians would never kill civilians.

    Odessa Grocery is a Russian business on Santa Monica Boulevard in West-Hollywood on Friday, March 18, 2022. West Hollywood has a population of about 35,000 and about 20% of its residents are Russian speakers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
    Odessa Grocery is a Russian business on Santa Monica Boulevard in West-Hollywood on Friday, March 18, 2022. West Hollywood has a population of about 35,000 and about 20% of its residents are Russian speakers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

    The idea that Russians are superior to Ukrainians has been expressed by propagandist Solovyov and other pro-Kremlin propagandists, and Putin has referred to Ukraine as Malorossiya, which means “Little Russia” in English.

    D’Anieri at UC Riverside said the narrative of Little Russia, the concept that Ukrainians are the younger brothers of Russians, is spread by Kremlin propagandists and goes back to the idea that “Ukrainians should know their place.”

    “There’s also this idea that Ukrainians by themselves can’t want to be independent of Russia because Ukrainians love being ruled by Russia,” D’Anieri said. “Therefore, if Ukraine is trying to break away from Russia, it means some alien force in Ukraine is doing this. And that can either be Nazis or it could be Americans. But it’s not Ukraine.”

    Jokes about Ukrainians and other ethnic groups were common, said English at USC. “There was a chauvinistic attitude, but it was not hatred. It became something worse as state propaganda started telling (Russians) that (Ukrainians) were enemies, telling them that they were threatening.”

    How Kremlin’s propaganda reaches the U.S.

    As the Russian-Ukraine war saw its second anniversary this year on February 24, Rapoport’s relatives remained adamant about their support for the Kremlin.

    Rapoport said he tried to turn off the Russian TV channel or play pro-Ukrainian channels but “once they stop watching Russian TV, (they) go through painful withdrawal like drug addicts.”  

    But there are many ways for propaganda to reach expats in the U.S., according to Elina Treyger, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corp., whose work focuses on immigration enforcement, disinformation and misinformation.

    The U.S. Department of State, which monitors foreign disinformation, identified “the pillars of the Russian disinformation and propaganda ecosystem,” said Treyger. The pillars include state officials and their statements on social media, and state-sponsored or state-affiliated media, including RT — Russia Today — and Channel One.

    Other sources include proxy actors, Treyger said, who are “not part of the Russian state, they’re not necessarily being directed by the Russian state — although sometimes we don’t know — but they, for a whole host of motivations, amplify and spread Russian talking points.”

    The late Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries in Russia, admitted in 2023 that he established and financed the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a vast troll farm — an organized group of internet trolls that attempted to interfere in political opinions and decision-making. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned IRA in 2018 for creating a massive number of fake online accounts — posting as individuals, organizations and grassroots groups — to impact U.S. voters.

    From 2013 to 2018, campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter created by the IRA reached tens of millions of U.S. users, according to a report published in 2018 by the Computational Propaganda Research Project at the Oxford Internet Institute, which studied the use of social media before and during the 2016 elections.

    The Kremlin, Elina Treyger said, has been “fixated on the power of the information space for a long time, since the internet became a thing.”

    There was nothing Putin wanted more than to cancel the Internet, Treyger said, noting that “he didn’t cancel the Russian Internet but he reshaped it, allowing for the dominance of the Kremlin’s narratives.”

    Treyger says the Kremlin has “the advantage of being authoritarian on the inside, pulling information flow while injecting their narratives into our information landscape. That’s definitely a weakness that democracies have.”

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    Olga Grigoryants

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  • Dueling Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Israel protests get heated at UCLA

    Dueling Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Israel protests get heated at UCLA

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    Fights broke out at UCLA Sunday, April 28 among pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel supporters after a barrier that was meant to separate the dueling groups of demonstrators was breached.

    A group called Stand With Us scheduled an 11 a.m. rally to show support for Jewish students after days of often intense pro-Palestinian protests at campuses across the United States, including at crosstown USC. The rally was co-sponsored by the United Jewish Coalition in partnership with the Israel American Council and several related organizations.

    Members of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice scheduled a 9:30 a.m. demonstration to support students’ right to protest, in response to a request from pro-Palestine protesters at the campus.

    “This morning, a group of demonstrators breached a barrier that the university had established separating two groups of protestors on our campus, resulting in physical altercations,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement. “UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest, and we are heartbroken about the violence that broke out.”

    According to the Daily Bruin, members of both groups were facing off on the lawn between Haines Hall and Kaplan Hall Sunday morning.

    “Fights have broken out between protesters supporting Israel and those supporting Palestine in Dickson Plaza,” the newspaper reported at 10:57 a.m.

    No arrests were reported as of midday Sunday.

    See also: Pro-Palestinian protest reignites at USC

    Overnight, the pro-Palestine protesters expanded their UCLA campus encampment outside to stretch from the top of the Janss Steps to the east end of Royce Hall.

    The growing number of pro-Palestine protesters has been met with an equally fervent group of counter-protesters who played loud music near the encampment and shouted chants about Palestine preceded by an obscenity, according to the Daily Bruin.

    One counter-protester stomped on a Palestinian flag at the encampment while another ripped posters off the exterior of the encampment, the Daily Bruin reported.

    As of Sunday morning, groups supporting the counter-protesters had raised $64,478 on GoFundMe to support Bruins for Israel, more the twice the initial $26,000 goal.

    The makeshift cluster of more than 50 camping tents for the pro-Palestine protesters began forming early Thursday and continued to grow over the weekend.

    Organizers of UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment, similar to their counterparts at USC, issued a list of demands calling for divestment of all University of California and UCLA Foundation funds from companies tied to Israel, along with a demand that the university call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and an academic boycott by UC against Israeli universities, including a suspension of study-abroad programs.

    It was unclear whether all of the participants were UCLA students.

    “Our top priority is always the safety and wellbeing of our entire Bruin community,” Osako said in a statement Thursday morning. “We’re actively monitoring this situation to support a peaceful campus environment that respects our community’s right to free expression while minimizing disruption to our teaching and learning mission.”

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    City News Service

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  • 20 least-affordable US cities to buy a home are all in California

    20 least-affordable US cities to buy a home are all in California

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    “How expensive?” tracks measurements of California’s totally unaffordable housing market.

    The pain: Twenty U.S. cities with the highest home-price-to-income ratios are all in California.

    The source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed a housing affordability yardstick by Construction Coverage, which tracked median home prices divided by the median annual household income for 384 cities including 79 from California.

    The pinch

    If going 20 for 20 at the top of this “unaffordability” ranking wasn’t painful enough, look at California’s share of this city-by-city scorecard this way …

    • 93% of the 30 costliest cities were from the Golden State
    • 83% were in Top 40.
    • 78% were in the Top 50.
    • 69% were in the Top 75.
    • 61% were in the Top 100.
    • 51% were in the Top 150.

    Or ponder the statewide pain like this: A California home costs 8.4 times income ($765,197 vs. $91,551) compared with 4.7 times nationally – $347,716 price vs. 74,755 income.

    Pressure points

    Here are California’s Top 20 …

    No. 1 Newport Beach: Cost ratio of 25.4 times – $3.2 million price vs. $127,353 income.

    No. 2 Palo Alto: 19 times – $3.4 million vs. $179,707.

    No. 3 Glendale: 15.2 times – $1.2 million vs. $77,483.

    No. 4 Los Angeles: 12.5 times – $953,501 vs. $76,135.

    No. 5 El Monte: 12.3 times – $733,107 vs. $59,368.

    No. 6 Costa Mesa: 12.2 times – $1.3 million vs. $103,891.

    No. 7 El Cajon: 12.1 times – $801,111 vs. $66,045.

    No. 8 Inglewood: 12.1 times – $757,106 vs. $62,601.

    No. 9 Hawthorne: 11.9 times – $872,568 vs. $73,515.

    No. 10 Sunnyvale: 11.8 times – $2 million vs. $169,781.

    No. 11 Irvine: 11.6 times – $1.4 million vs. $123,003.

    No. 12 Huntington Beach: 11.3 times – $1.3 million vs. $111,122.

    No. 13 Torrance: 10.9 times – $1.2 million vs. $108,406.

    No. 14 Garden Grove: 10.6 times – $917,752 vs. $86,975.

    No. 15 San Jose: 10.5 times – $1.4 million vs. $133,835.

    No. 16 Anaheim: 10.4 times – $881,544 vs. $85,133.

    No. 17 East Los Angeles: 10.3 times – $660,277 vs. $64,156.

    No. 18 Long Beach: 10.3 times – $825,502 vs. $80,493.

    No. 19 Oceanside: 10.2 times – $850,185 vs. $83,271.

    No. 20 Tustin: 10.2 times – $1.1 million vs. $104,427.

    By the way, No. 21 is Arizona’s Flagstaff with a 10.15 cost ratio – $646,425 vs. $63,612.

    The ‘bargains’

    California’s most “affordable” cities on this scorecard include …

    No. 233 Visalia: 4.6 times – $372,140 price vs. $81,362 income.

    No. 177 Bakersfield: 5.3 times – $380,862 vs. $72,017.

    No. 169 Palmdale: 5.5 times – $495,928 vs. $90,330.

    No. 160 Stockton: 5.7 times – $430,810 vs. $76,231.

    No. 149 Fresno: 5.8 times – $370,798 vs. $64,196.

    The nation’s cheapest city, by this math was Jackson, Mississippi, with a 1.4 cost ratio – $57,808 vs. $40,631.

    Quotable

    A sobering tidbit, nationally speaking, from the report: “On an inflation-adjusted basis, household incomes increased by just 4.5% since 2000, while home prices increased by 59%.”

    Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

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    Jonathan Lansner

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  • Need speed humps, bumps or cushions on your street to slow down drivers?

    Need speed humps, bumps or cushions on your street to slow down drivers?

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    Q. This may be outside your realm of expertise, but I’m hoping you have a suggestion. Cars speed on our residential street with no regard to residents (or pets). We have neighbors with young children and pets. Who do I contact to see about putting in speed bumps? The City Council?

    – Mrs. Antonella Bennett, Pasadena

    A. You came to the right place, Mrs. Bennett, Honk is all knowing – or at least he knows who to call for the goods.

    Nader Asmar, Pasadena’s principal traffic engineer, told Honk residents can go to the city’s online City Service Center and put in requests. Just Google it. Even if the form isn’t filled out exactly right, he said it will end up with the proper official.

    “We will … contact them and go through the process with them,” Asmar said. “The city does have humps, and there are many around town.”

    Pasadena, as you can see, calls them “humps,” not “bumps,” and now deploys a version called “speed cushions.”

    To get them installed, there are some regulations in the city’s policy. In general, the street must experience 1,000 to 4,000 vehicles a day, at least 15% of them have to significantly speed (33 mph or more on a 25-mph street), and a petition must be circulated with 67% or more of the block residents giving the project a thumbs-up. There are some other considerations, too.

    The City Council approved the policy so city staffers can make the call.

    Now for the fun, nerdy stuff:

    Speed cushions look like rectangular pads. On asphalt streets in Pasadena, asphalt itself is used to make them. On concrete streets, rubber ones are bolted on.

    They are wide enough so at least one side of a car must go over them. But they are skinny enough so a fire truck can straddle them and not lose speed on the way to an emergency.

    For those outside of Pasadena who want speed humps, bumps or cushions, call your city hall and ask to be transferred to the department in charge of them.

    Q. Honk: Who paints the address number on the curb? We keep getting pamphlets asking for $20 to repaint a fading street-address number for our home. Is this a city-sponsored program?

    – Mauricio B. Edberg, West Hills

    A. Honk would bet his editor’s paycheck it is a person or two just trying to make a few bucks or toiling for a charity.

    In fact, he was out walking his dog this week and saw two young people sitting in the street, next to the curb, painting away. He admired how they had an orange pylon next to them so drivers saw them.

    Years ago, a co-worker of Honk supplemented his income by painting the address numbers.

    In your city, Los Angeles, to do such work legally takes a specific permit that requires, among other things, a $100,000 insurance policy. The annual permit costs $211.

    The painter must give the homeowner sufficient advance notice of the work, so he or she can object if desired. If you don’t ask for the work, you don’t have to pay, and the city does not determine the cost. The painter must be able to show residents the permit.

    L.A. does regulate how the painting is done.

    Other cities and unincorporated areas likely have similar laws. For info, once again, call your city hall or the appropriate local government.

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    Jim Radcliffe

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  • Alexander: There is closure, but Shohei Ohtani never acted distracted

    Alexander: There is closure, but Shohei Ohtani never acted distracted

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    LOS ANGELES — It’s overly simplistic to talk about “distractions” in discussing sports, and wins and losses, and individual performance. Yet we do it all the time.

    So, under the circumstances of the last three weeks, when the stresses already inherent in Shohei Ohtani’s debut with the Dodgers, with a big contract and high expectations, were overlaid with a sports betting scandal involving his interpreter … oh, my, did us amateur psychologists have a field day.

    There’s a reason we’re amateur psychologists.

    Thursday provided some closure, when federal investigators unveiled the case against Ippei Mizuhara, revealing that the man Ohtani trusted so intimately allegedly stole him blind, to the tune of $16 million, to handle his own gambling losses with an illegal bookmaker. Not only was Ohtani not involved in gambling, but the unsealed indictment revealed that between 2021 and ’23 Mizuhara controlled the bank account into which Ohtani’s Angels salary was directly deposited, and Ohtani’s agent and financial people had no access and apparently no knowledge of what was happening.

    How many of us could handle such revelations? Basically, Ohtani was revealed in the indictment as merely being way too trusting, and the early reports that he was a victim of “massive fraud,” shortly after the story broke when the team was in South Korea to open the season, were backed up when the feds revealed the details.

    Wouldn’t being scammed – which is basically what this was – throw you off your game?

    But here’s the thing: It didn’t throw Ohtani off his. He might have gotten off to a slow start, by his standards, but if there was any indication that he has risen above whatever the outside world might throw at him, consider this most recent stretch of games.

    In Friday night’s 8-7, 11-inning loss to San Diego, Ohtani was 3 for 5 with two doubles and a massive home run in his first at-bat, a 403-foot, 107.3 mph missile deep into the left field pavilion that tied Hideki Matsui’s MLB record for Japanese-born players (175). That continued a stretch of seven games of Hall of Fame-caliber hitting dating to the end of the previous homestand and his first home run as a Dodger on April 3 against San Francisco: A .457 batting average, eight runs scored, four RBIs, four homers, five doubles, a 1.057 slugging percentage and a 1.620 OPS.

    For the season through Friday, he’d raised his OPS to .979. His first eight games weren’t so much a slump as, well, slightly under Ohtanian expectations.

    But it wasn’t like he’d suddenly snapped to attention and realized that he’d better focus. He does nothing but focus when he’s on the field, with maybe the odd exception when he’s running the bases.

    He does not play like a distracted player. By all appearances, he does not allow himself to be distracted, which is why he parries the questions about the firestorm involving his now former interpreter. He answered a question from the Los Angeles Times before Friday night’s game that ended with the words, “I’d like to focus on baseball.” And when another interviewer after the game brought up the subject of the charges against Mizuhara, current interpreter Will Ireton said, “We’re (only) talking about baseball.”

    His manager, Dave Roberts – whose Dodgers franchise record for home runs by a Japanese-born player, seven, should fall to Ohtani some time in the coming weeks, and at this rate maybe the next couple of days – is impressed by the emotional consistency of his new superstar.

    “Unflappable,” is how Roberts described it. “He’s just very stoic. You don’t know his emotions He just kind of comes in every day the same, and you’d never know if things are good or things are bad or stuff (is) on his mind. He’s a pro. He just wants to play baseball.”

    And, Roberts added after Friday’s game, “He’s playing great baseball. He’s got that look in his eye, like he wants to be at the plate. And he’s just taking really good swings, hitting everything hard … I just marvel at what he’s done each day in his preparation, and just the talent is something that’s pretty remarkable.”

    Under the circumstances, remarkable may not even be an adequate description.

    “He’s handled it with flying colors,” Roberts said. “He’s done a great job of just focusing on baseball and not letting it be a distraction for him. And our guys, as well, have handled it really well as far as that noise and not letting it affect their play. … Guys are pretty in tune with what’s going on, but it hasn’t affected the clubhouse or how we play.”

    It has been a hallmark of these Dodger teams, particularly since Roberts became manager in 2016, that the clubhouse is unified and inclusive, with a number of strong veteran leaders setting the tone. When those leaders depart for whatever reason, others take up the mantle.

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    Jim Alexander

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  • Angels rally but still lose home opener to Red Sox

    Angels rally but still lose home opener to Red Sox

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    ANAHEIM — The Angels provided an Angel Stadium sellout crowd of 44,714 with plenty of entertainment, but not a victory.

    After trailing by four runs in the second inning, the Angels rallied to tie the score in the sixth and seventh innings before losing, 8-6, to the Boston Red Sox in their home opener on Friday night.

    Logan O’Hoppe’s sixth-inning grand slam pulled the Angels even, and they had a few chances to take the lead after that, but they couldn’t do it.

    “We know who we are,” O’Hoppe said. “It’s going to take for everyone else to see. … We know we’re capable of doing that tonight. We’re capable of finishing the job when we get in situations like that going forward.”

    Their failure to finish the job this time was largely because of the ineffectiveness of José Soriano, the Angels’ flame-throwing multi-inning reliever who had been dominant in his season debut last weekend. He gave up single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth.

    Jarren Duran, a product of Cypress High and Long Beach State, gave the Red Sox the final lead of the night with an eighth-inning homer off a 99.4-mph fastball from Soriano.

    Soriano gave up another homer in the ninth, the second of the game from Tyler O’Neill, and the Angels (4-3) saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.

    “They showed what they’re made of,” Manager Ron Washington said of his team’s comeback. “The game wasn’t over till the ninth inning, and I guarantee a lot of people thought it was over after they scored four runs. I’m proud of how those guys continued to have good at-bats. We just came up short.”

    The Angels fell behind 4-0 in the second inning when Griffin Canning gave up three homers, and the hosts didn’t even get their first hit until the fourth.

    In the fifth the Angels pushed home a run, but Mike Trout hit a flyout to leave the bases loaded. The Red Sox then got that run back in the top of the sixth, taking a 5-1 lead.

    The Angels then capitalized on a sloppy inning from the Red Sox. Taylor Ward hit a fly ball to center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, who had the ball in his glove and simply dropped it. Brandon Drury then hit a grounder to third baseman Rafael Devers, whose throw to second was dropped by Enmanuel Valdez. Miguel Sanó was then hit by a pitch loading the bases.

    An out later, O’Hoppe blasted a ball over the center field fence, tying the score with his first career grand slam.

    The momentum was firmly on the Angels’ side at that point, but the Red Sox kept shoving them back down every time they hopped up. Each time the Angels scored, the Red Sox scored in the following inning.

    “We couldn’t put a shutdown inning from the sixth inning on,” Washington said. “If we could have shut down two of those innings, it might have been a different game.”

    By the time it was over, Canning’s outing seemed a distant memory.

    Canning made it through 4⅔ and he allowed four runs, all of them coming on the three homers he allowed in the second inning.

    Canning hung a slider to O’Neill on a 1-and-0 pitch, and O’Neill hit it into the seats in right center.

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    Jeff Fletcher

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  • Person killed, deputy injured in collision and shooting in the Lakewood/Bellflower area

    Person killed, deputy injured in collision and shooting in the Lakewood/Bellflower area

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    One person was killed and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy was injured during a shooting and collision Tuesday night in the Lakewood/Bellflower area.

    It occurred around 9:55 p.m. near the intersection of Downey Avenue and Artesia Boulevard and ABC 7 video showed what appeared to be a 1970s muscle car on top of the deputy’s patrol car at the scene. ABC7 reported a deputy opened fire during the shooting and a man was reported dead at the crash scene.

    It was not immediately known how the deputy was injured. The deputy was taken to a hospital. Information on his condition was not immediately available, but CBS 2 reported the deputy was alert as he was transported.

    The intersection of Downey Avenue and Artesia Boulevard was closed while deputies examined the scene for possible evidence and looked for any surveillance video at the scene, CBS 2 reported.

    City News Service contributed to this story.

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    Staff and news service reports

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  • Authorities ID man who died after Fullerton officers shot him with bean bags, stun gun during arrest

    Authorities ID man who died after Fullerton officers shot him with bean bags, stun gun during arrest

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    A man who died after Fullerton police officers shot him with bean bag rounds and a stun gun last week outside a McDonald’s restaurant has been identified.

    He was Alejandro Campos Rios, 50, the Fullerton Police Department said Monday. The agency said Rios had a P.O. Box in Buena Park but was homeless.

    Rios died at a hospital following the early morning encounter in the 1300 block of South Brookhurst Road, near Orangethorpe Avenue, on Wednesday, March 6.

    Rios was hit with at least one of bean bag round, police said, which hit him in the chest and penetrated his skin. He was also shocked with a stun gun during the encounter.

    Two officers who were at the scene were placed on administrative leave “per standard practice” of the Fullerton Police Department, said Sgt. Ryan O’Neil.

    “They should be returning to work to work later this week,” O’Neil said.

    Police went to the McDonald’s after a manager called them reporting two men outside the restaurant acting erratically. Footage obtained by OC Hawk showed Rios and the other man, who has not been identified, gesturing and apparently dancing, but otherwise not acting aggressively.

    The footage then cuts to the police response, with at least one officer pointing a handheld device at Rios, shirtless and swinging a belt wildly.

    One of the officers fires a series of bean bag rounds at Rios — from the footage, at least six were fired. At some point during the encounter, police said a stun gun was also fired.

    After the sixth bean bag round was fired at Rios, the man could be seen in the footage getting on one knee while clutching at his chest. The other man who was with him runs past the officers who are slowly advancing on Rios.

    The footage then cuts again to officers and paramedics tending to Rios as he lie on the ground with bandages covering his chest.

    O’Neil said the man who ran from the scene was later found and interviewed by officers.

    The Orange County District Attorney’s office is investigating the encounter and has already interviewed both officers, O’Neil said.

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    Josh Cain

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  • USC women outlast UCLA in double-OT classic to reach Pac-12 tournament title game

    USC women outlast UCLA in double-OT classic to reach Pac-12 tournament title game

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    LAS VEGAS — She rocked back and forth for a moment on the hardwood, trying to summon the strength to pull herself up, to rejoin the action continuing without her at the other end of the court.

    Finally, a whistle blew in overtime, and USC’s JuJu Watkins crumpled.

    The freshman guard groped at her left ankle, writhing back and forth in agony, rolling into the fetal position as a trainer rushed over and sat her up. It seemed the death knoll for USC’s Pac-12 tournament hopes, a pall settling over a throng of thumping loyalists and stragglers alike at MGM Grand in Vegas. Not a minute into Friday night’s 80-70 victory over UCLA in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal, Watkins had collapsed similarly after a drive, limping off the court and straight to the tunnel with a sprained left ankle as head coach Lindsay Gottlieb sifted through mental worst-case contingency plans.

    No need. Two minutes later, in that first quarter, she’d hobbled out from the tunnel. And about a minute and a half after she exited on the same ankle sprain in overtime, she somehow came trotting back, throwing herself back into a thicket of UCLA trees like she had never left.

    “Even when I went out, I knew I’d get back in, because my team needed me,” Watkins said, adding later, “it’s just an ankle. Nothing I’m not used to. Feel great.”

    Just an ankle. Yet another gutsy performance that could sit with the rest in Watkins’ freshman year, in what coach Lindsay Gottlieb has called the “storybook of Ju:” 33 points, 14 for 17 from the free-throw line, an ugly 9-for-27 line from the field in an at-times ugly double-overtime descent into madness in the desert.

    But this is simply her, bandages and forehead welts and all, putting her body through a gauntlet through this February and March’s Pac-12 gauntlet and never once accepting the thought that her limbs might simply give way. This was the same kid, Gottlieb remembered with a smile, who she had seen turn her ankle during a 6 a.m. practice back in her high school days at Sierra Canyon and run right back out like nothing was the matter. And when asked postgame about the source of her competitive fuel, Watkins deflected onto her teammates with a bashful grin.

    “We’re talking about it, like, Ivys,” Watkins said, referring to USC’s group of senior Ivy League transfers, “this is their last year. Like, you don’t know what’s going to happen next year. So we’re really taking advantage of everything.”

    This is no longer a program on the rise. This is a USC program (25-5) that has arrived ahead of schedule, officially snatching a season series – barring another matchup in the NCAA tournament – from a UCLA team (25-6) that has long been the standard in Los Angeles, officially earning a berth in the Pac-12 championship game to play a top-seeded Stanford team (27-4) that has long been a standard of women’s college basketball as a whole. And Watkins’ grit was matched in whole by her fellow Trojans on Saturday night, the Ivys – McKenzie Forbes, Kaitlyn Davis and Kayla Padilla – all coming up with big-time plays in a game that seemed set to slip.

    With the score knotted at 59-all in the final seconds of a back-and-forth regulation, a flurry of Watkins attacks was thwarted by UCLA stalwart center Lauren Betts and forward Angela Dugalic and Bruins guard Londynn Jones streaked to the rim for what could’ve been a game-closing layup. Except Padilla – a lithe 5-foot-9 guard who wasn’t known for her defense before arriving at USC from Penn – chased down and swatted Jones’ layup away, setting the stage for overtime.

    As UCLA again held momentum in the first extra period, holding a four-point lead with less than a minute to go, Watkins stepped to the line for a pair of free throws. She made one. Missed the second. Back-breaker – except Davis, who stampeded around the paint like a baby elephant during a 16-rebound night, snared a board and kicked to Forbes for a 3-pointer to tie. On the next possession, Davis swallowed up a Betts layup attempt for a jump ball, roaring and flexing to her bench in glee.

    “I felt like, all of us collectively came into it with a confidence, especially when the game is that tight,” Davis said postgame, “knowing that we can lock in and we’ve done it before.”

    The third-seeded Bruins had every chance to close, a sobering reality for a group that might have lost its chance at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Both at the end of regulation and the end of the first overtime, they had two seconds for a final shot to win the game, only for guards to dribble nowhere and not even get a shot off before the buzzer. Betts feasted all night, with 17 points and 18 rebounds, but when asked postgame if her 16 shots were enough, Close responded simply: “No.”

    Close, repeatedly, pointed the finger at herself and took accountability for all of it. She noted her displeasure with a lopsided first quarter, second-seeded USC ending the frame on a 16-0 run before a corresponding 16-0 run by UCLA the next period. She emphasized UCLA was out-toughed by USC; beaten, in a sense, at its own game. It’s on me, she repeated, in different variations.

    And it was fitting in a bruising effort Friday night, really, that it ended with one final body bump, Forbes collapsing to the hardwood after a final-second foul from UCLA’s Gabriela Jacquez. Falling unceremoniously, smacking the court again – but with a smile, because there was nothing left but to smile.

    And as Forbes drained her late free throws and the buzzer sounded on a USC win, Marshall snagged a rebound and roared with every decibel left in a tired voice, every fiber left in weary muscles, Kaitlyn Davis and teammates leaping for joy after felling their cross-town rivals once more and proving themselves in the desert.

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    Luca Evans

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